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A8 NATION/WORLD East Oregonian Tuesday, December 3, 2019 Impeachment shadows Trump on trip to NATO meeting By AAMER MADHANI Associated Press LONDON — Crying foul over timing, President Donald Trump on Monday accused Democrats of sched- uling this week’s impeach- ment hearing to undercut him during his trip abroad for a NATO leaders’ meeting play- ing out at a crucial moment for the 70-year-old military alliance. Trump, who arrived in London late Monday for two days of meetings, called the trip “one of the most import- ant journeys that we make as president” and said Demo- crats had long known about it. Trump’s trip to the U.K. comes amid ongoing quar- rels over defense spending by NATO allies and widespread anxiety over the president’s commitment to the alliance. The president said his trip would be focused on “fi ght- ing for the American peo- ple.” But in the more than two months that the impeach- ment inquiry has been under- way, he has constantly drifted back to what he frames as the Democrats’ unfair effort to overturn the results of his 2016 election. AP Photo/Alex Brandon President Donald Trump speaks with reporters on the South Lawn of the White House before departing on Monday in Washington. The House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing Wednesday on the constitutional grounds for impeachment before Trump wraps up at the NATO meeting. Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, White House counsel Pat Cipollone and presidential counselor Kel- lyanne Conway all com- plained about the timing, with Pompeo saying the hearings would “distract America’s president from his important mission overseas.” Trump insists he’s solely focused on scoring domes- tic and foreign policy wins, including revamping NATO so that allies spend more on defense. But he’s often appeared consumed by the day-to-day battle against impeachment. In recent days he’s repeat- edly lashed out about the “impeachment hoax” and the “scam” inquiry, even delving into impeachment at a cere- mony to celebrate NCAA ath- letes and at last week’s annual Turkey pardon. White House aides say the summit offers Trump an opportunity to counter the impeachment narrative in Washington and demonstrate to voters that he’s keeping a business-as-usual approach while Democrats concentrate on the probe. But soon after Air Force One departed, Trump took to Twitter to slam “Do Nothing Democrats” for scheduling the hearing during the NATO meeting as “Not nice!”” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in Madrid for a U.N. conference on climate change, declined to com- ment about the impeachment inquiry, saying, “When we travel abroad, we don’t talk about the president in a neg- ative way. We save that for home.” Trump is only the fourth U.S. president in history to face an impeachment inquiry. The gravity of impeachment is likely to play into the cal- culus of how other global leaders engage the president going forward, in the view of some analysts. “In one sense impeach- ment is weakening his hand diplomatically,” said Ted Galen Carpenter, a senior fel- low for defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute in Washington. “For a normal president, it would be seen as a substantial prob- lem. For Donald Trump, he’s going to try to blow right through it and act is if that’s not a relevant factor.” The NATO leaders meet- ing is a complicated back- drop for Trump to make his fi rst extended overseas visit —he made a quick Thanks- giving visit to U.S. troops in Afghanistan — since Demo- crats launched the impeach- ment inquiry. Trump has repeatedly crit- icized fellow NATO mem- bers and complained that too few nations are on track to meet the alliance goal of spending at least 2% of GDP on defense by 2024. French President Emmanuel Macron recently lamented that a lack of U.S. leadership was caus- ing the “brain death” of the alliance. Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton has said the president could move to leave the alliance if he wins re-election. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, who has warned that a second Trump term could mean NATO’s effective dissolution, jokingly said Monday that he’d “say a prayer” as the president heads to London. Technology to keep lights on could help prevent wildfi res By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LOS ANGELES — B. Don Russell wasn’t think- ing about preventing a wild- fi re when he developed a tool to detect power line problems before blackouts and bigger disasters. The electrical engineer- ing professor at Texas A&M University fi gured he might save a life if his creation could prevent someone from being electrocuted by a downed live wire. But fi re prevention may be his product’s biggest sell- ing point in California and other places that have expe- rienced devastating wildland blazes blamed on electrical equipment. “If we can fi nd things when they start to fail, if we can fi nd things that are in the process of degrading before a catastrophic event occurs, such as a downed line that might electrocute someone or a fi re starting or even an out- age for their customers, that’s kind of the Holy Grail,” Rus- sell said. The technology he bills as a one-of-a kind diagnostic tool called Distribution Fault Anticipation is now in use in Texas and being tested in Cal- ifornia by Pacifi c Gas & Elec- tric Co. and Southern Califor- nia Edison. The utilities have been blamed for some of the most destructive and deadliest fi res in California. Texas A&M said the tech- nology will also be tested in New Zealand and Austra- lia, which is currently reeling from destructive wildfi res. The tool detects variations in electrical currents caused by deteriorating conditions or equipment and notifi es utility operators so they can send a crew to fi x the problems, Rus- sell said. It can anticipate many problems in their early stages — sometimes years before they cause an out- age or present a greater haz- ard during high winds when utilities are now preemp- tively shutting off power to DOWNLOAD OUR FREE NEWS APP TODAY! prevent sparking wildfi res. Before the technology was developed, electric compa- nies often didn’t know they had a problem until there was a failure or a customer called to report sparks on power lines or a loss of electricity. “The assumption the util- ity has to make today is it’s healthy until we get a call that says somebody’s lights (are) out,” Russell said. “By then the fi re’s started or the outage has happened or the person’s electrocuted.” Pedernales Electric Coop- erative Inc. that serves about 330,000 customers outside San Antonio and Austin, Texas, began implementing the system after successful • Personalize your news feed with the stories you want. according to PG&E and SoCal Edison. In Southern California, the software is running on just 60 of Edison’s 1,100 cir- cuits in the utility’s high-risk fi re zone, which accounts for about a quarter of its total circuits. It’s just one of several tools the utility is testing to con- tinue to modernize its system. “There is no silver bul- let,” said Bill Chiu, managing director of grid modernization and resiliency at SoCal Edi- son. “This is really more of a preventive measure. ... The important point is this will be one of the suite of technology that will help us better assess the condition of the grid.” Holiday savings so good, you’ll jump for JOY Our new app offers access to the latest news as it happens with customizable features for mobile and tablet devices: • Scroll through the latest headlines while on-the-go. tests that began in 2015. The utility serves areas so rural that before the technology was installed, electricity pow- ering a pump on a well could have been off for days before being detected by a farmer. The devices installed at substations are now trouble- shooting all kinds of prob- lems, said Robert Peterson, principal engineer for the utility. “We’ve found tree branches on the line. Fail- ing arrestors. Failing capac- itors. Failing connections,” Peterson said. “It’s pretty amazing.” In California, the test- ing process has just begun and there are no results yet, The perfect holiday gift is available now! BOOK DETAILS: Hardcover, 144 pages • Historic photos of Umatilla County Limited time offer — discount expires Dec. 31, 2019! • Receive breaking news alerts on $34.95 your phone. reg. $44.95 • Explore photos, videos plus shipping and more. • Easily save articles for Just released! reading later. • Share articles with the tap Pick up your books locally, including pre-orders of a finger. East Oregonian 211 SE Byers Ave., Pendleton (Mon.–Fri., 8 a.m.– 5 p.m.) • Content can be viewed offline when out-of-service or in flight. • Customizable settings allow you to enlarge type and choose how often content refreshes. Order online and save with flat-rate shipping Umatilla.PictorialBook.com Expedited shipping available for Christmas delivery Order by mail now (discount expires 12/31/19): Postmark by 12/5/19 for Christmas delivery Ship my order to me: $34.95 plus $6.95 shipping and handling per book. Order will be shipped to the address below. Quantity: ___ x $41.90 = $______ total Payment method: ☐ Check/Money Order Credit card orders can be placed online: Umatilla.PictorialBook.com Name Address To subscribe, call 1-800-522-0255 or log on to www.eastoregonian.com/subscribe-now City State Phone E-mail Zip From the archives of the Athena Public Library, City of Echo, Milton-Freewater Area Historical Society, Pendleton Round-up, Tamástslikt Cultural Institute and Umatilla County Historical Society Send form and payment to: East Oregonian 211 SE Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or call 800-522-0255
